Budget cuts and next steps

As we head full-speed into the final weeks of the quarter, I want to update you on the budget situation and announce specific initiatives that I believe will position this campus for the future.

First, the budget. I want to thank principal officers across campus for their diligent work cutting their budgets as we've struggled to absorb the reductions required for the fiscal year that begins July 1. It has been a daunting process, and I appreciate their dedication.

After reviewing each proposal, I have made my final decisions and informed campus leaders. There is little good news to share, because meeting this challenge is requiring staff layoffs, elimination of unfilled faculty positions, and further reductions in instructional support, such as teaching assistants. I want to acknowledge the human toll of these cuts as we say good-bye to valued colleagues and friends. And clearly, the impact of these cuts will be felt by remaining employees, who will face the dual challenge of getting the work done with fewer resources — and deciding what will no longer be done at all.

As a result of this year's budget cuts and our ongoing commitment to our students, whose financial investment in their education is increasing, I propose that we work collaboratively toward five key student-focused goals. I am calling this effort "Five for 2015," in recognition of the upcoming 50th anniversary of this campus. These goals are:

• Four years or less: In collaboration with the Academic Senate, I want to examine and streamline major requirements to ensure that students can have a challenging and rewarding educational experience and can earn a degree — of which they and we will be proud — in four years or less.

• Increased retention: I want to improve UCSC's current student retention rate. Moving our overall rate will be a lengthy process, but we can aim in the short term to improve our first-year retention rates by 2 percent and to drop our upper-division attrition to below 10 percent.

• Increase nonresident student enrollment: A modest increase in the number of nonresident domestic and international students to 5 percent of total undergraduate enrollment, from current levels of about 3.5 percent, would diversify our student body and provide the campus with additional resources.

• Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI): We already have a strong record of educating Latino/Latina students. HSI status would increase our visibility as a pipeline to college — and beyond — for all students from underrepresented groups.

• Financial stability: I want to be able to prepare a three-year budget with a reasonable expectation that it will be within 5 percent of the actual budget. This will benefit faculty and students by allowing us to map the curriculum and plan course availability with far greater certainty.

My focus on these deliberatelystudent-oriented goals recognizes the impact budget cuts and tuition increases have had on students. Put simply, I believe these goals will help ensure that students get their "money's worth" and are able to make timely progress toward graduation.

In closing, I want to express my gratitude to all of the colleagues who have collaborated with me on this year's budget challenges. I also want to congratulate the thousands of UCSC students who are about to graduate, and to thank all the staff and faculty who have helped get them to this milestone. Go, Banana Slugs!